Posted on 02/15/2022 11:47:22 AM PST by ShadowAce
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - As rural health care facilities begin to lose staff due to the federal CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Attorney General has urged the Governor to seek a waiver so these facilities can continue to help Kansans.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has warned the federal government’s mandate for health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 could be devastating for many rural facilities, and some may have to close due to lack of staff.
Schmidt said Kansas should fight for those facilities and their residents by formally seeking a waiver from the federal requirements.
In November 2021, Schmidt said he filed a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate which applies to facilities like nursing homes and hospitals that get Medicare and Medicaid funds.
On Jan. 13, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the mandate as the legal challenge continues. While Kansas and other states continue aggressive litigations of the CMS mandate, Schmidt said its current implementation has already caused disruptions in the workforce, particularly in small rural communities.
“While problematic everywhere, this ‘jab-or-job’ choice for healthcare workers is particularly devastating in small facilities in our rural communities,” Schmidt wrote in a letter to Governor Laura Kelly. “Already substantially understaffed before the pandemic began, and having lost more vital workers to fatigue because of their dedicated service through the pandemic, many rural facilities face the very real risk of no longer being able to operate or otherwise having to reduce services if even a small number of employees quit or are terminated rather than receive the shot. This outcome, of course, is devastating not only to the workers, and not only to the facilities but to all rural Kansans who rely on those workers and facilities for access to care in our rural communities.”
In the letter, Schmidt urged Kelly to seek the waiver from the mandate for rural communities on behalf of the state.
In some states who face significant damage to rural health care services because of the mandate, Schmidt said governors have already asked the Biden administration for a waiver for their rural healthcare facilities.
On Tuesday, Schmidt asked Kelly to seek a similar waiver. He recommended the Sunflower State seek a full waiver, but at the bare minimum, should insist the federal government recognize and respect the religious and medical exemptions enacted in Kansas law when the legislature called itself into special session.
“An express requirement by CMS to recognize our state-law protections would relieve any concern that CMS might challenge the state law’s validity or somehow penalize healthcare facilities that comply with the requirements of state law,” Schmidt wrote. “Time is of the essence to protect our healthcare heroes and to ensure continuity of lifesaving care services in rural Kansas communities.”
Schmidt has aggressively fought back against federal vaccine requirements since President Joe Biden announced his patience was “wearing thin” and began to order the federal mandates on Sept. 9, 2021.
To date, Schmidt said he has brought legal challenges to four of the federal COVID-19 mandates, and three are currently blocked from implementation in Kansas by federal court orders he obtained - the OSHA mandate, the federal contractor mandate and the Head Start mandate.
Schmidt said the fourth mandate, the CMS mandate, is currently in effect after the Supreme Court denied preliminary relief, however, his challenge to it is ongoing.
To read the full letter Schmidt sent Kelly to ask for the waiver, click HERE.
DC could care less about flyover country
Asking permission from your overlords?
10th amendment. These spineless state politicians are all about the federal dollars, and buying votes.
Maybe if they get on their knees and beg it will work....
:-(
My question is this (IANAL)--
Which takes actual (legal) precedence--state law or federal agency rule? I know Texas has a state Executive Order 39 that prohibits covid mandates. But hospitals in Texas are stating that the CMS rule overrides State law.
So I don't know, and no lawyer I've contacted will answer that question.
Don’y worry, thousands of Afghanis, Somalis and South-o-the-Border folks are coming in to help you out.
AND you can pay them half what you paid the previous employees.
Give Brandon an extra scoop and he’ll get right on it.
“YOU WILL OBEY!!!”
The scamdemic and its inventors virtually completed the murder of a 1st class healthcare system, deliberately
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